Computational intelligence techniques for new product development

Global competition and the development of novel manufacturing technologies have dramatically changed the operating environment of the industry. Significant challenges have transformed many manufacturers from production-centralized entities into customer-driven ones. Therefore, in the process of new product development (NPD), it is essential to analyse and understand the customer behaviour in buying new products, in order to satisfy the customer needs. NPD is a complex process involving a series of activities, in different stages, from understanding the market needs to developing a new product and satisfying various technical and product lifecycle requirements. In order to successfully deliver profitable new products to the market, a number of challenging issues in each activity have to be dealt with. Publisher statement: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Neurocomputing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Neurocomputing [Vol 142, (2014)] DOI: 10.1016/j.neucom.2014.05.001